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2017 CPS Academic Progress Report Shows Monumental Student Progress

With Record-Breaking Progress, Chicago Emerges as National Leader in Urban Education

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, September 7, 2017

For more information, contact:CPS Office of Communications
Phone: 773-553-1620

CHICAGO – CPS today released its annual academic progress report, a comprehensive overview of students’ record-breaking progress since 2011 on key academic measurements. Taken together, these encouraging statistics demonstrate unprecedented growth and progress across all demographics in schools throughout the City of Chicago.

“From growing graduation rates to shrinking achievement gaps, Chicago’s investments in education are ensuring our children can live up to their promise and potential,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “The talent of our teachers and the passion of our principals are helping students exceed expectations and achieve greater accomplishments.”

“These dramatic and rapid improvements provide a clear picture of how CPS has emerged as a national leader in urban education – by investing in proven efforts that pay dividends for student success today and into their futures,” CPS CEO Forrest Claypool said. “Principals, teachers, students and their families all share credit for these impressive gains – and our future as a city is brighter because of their accomplishments.”

“It’s undeniable that CPS schools are heading in the right direction, with progress in every neighborhood in the city, and we will continue to build upon this monumental progress until every single student reaches their potential,” Chief Education Officer Dr. Janice K. Jackson said. “Our students are shattering expectations and redefining what it means to be CPS student. As a lifelong educator and CPS graduate, this is exactly the type of progress we knew our students, families, educators and principals were capable of achieving – and we know that even better days are ahead.”
Progress Report Highlights:

Record-High Graduation Rate: The percentage of students graduating hit an all-time high of 77.5 percent in 2017 – a 4-point improvement from the previous year. This is CPS’ highest graduation rate on record and the highest year-over-year improvement in memory. The graduation rate has steadily risen over the past six years, growing from 56.9 percent in 2011 to 77.5 percent – a 36 percent increase.

Freshmen On-Track: This year’s rate of freshmen on-track to graduate is the highest measure on record at 88.7 percent, up more than 28 percent since 2011. The freshmen on-track rate is highly correlated to graduation rates.

Math and Reading Gains: In recent years CPS students achieved record scores on the Northwest Evaluation Association Measure of Academic Progress (NWEA-MAP). In 2017, a record 61.4 percent of students met or exceeded the national testing average in reading and 55.9 percent of students met or exceeded the average in math. For the fifth year in a row, CPS students have outscored national peers in both subjects.

Scholarship Dollars Earned: The class of 2017 earned more than $1.24 billion in scholarship offers – $80 million more than 2016 and triple the amount of scholarship dollars earned in 2013.

Keeping Students Safe: Since 2011, CPS added more than 100 schools to the Safe Passage program to help ensure that more than 75,000 CPS students from 145 schools are able to travel safety to and from school every day. To date, there have been no serious incidents involving a student during operational hours while Safe Passage workers are present, and crime along routes has decreased 32 percent since 2012.

Meeting Students’ Social and Emotional Needs: CPS has made major investments in social and emotional learning programming, training and initiatives in recent years to better support the needs of our students. As part of these efforts, CPS created the supportive schools certification to recognize schools have prioritized supportive school environments. In 2017, 335 schools earned the supportive school certification – an increase of more than one-third since 2016.

The 2017 District Academic Progress Report is attached. The report card will continue to be updated periodically throughout the year.

CPS’ detailed plan to build upon this record-breaking progress can be found in the district’s vision statement at http://cps.edu/sitecollectiondocuments/cpsvision.pdf.

Chicago Public Schools serves 381,000 students in 652 schools. It is the nation’s third-largest school district.

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Chicago Public Schools is the third largest school district in the United States with more than 600 schools and serves 371,000 children. Our vision is that every student in every neighborhood will be engaged in a rigorous, well-rounded instructional program and will graduate prepared for success in college, career and life.